Twins, Ubaldo Jimenez, Sean O’Hair: Ramblings From a Week Past

It must be the dog days of summer, even though the trade deadline is still six days away. It is the time of year where everything just seems to slow down. The heat helps. I should have sensed the onset of dog day-ness when attempting to write my last post, as I started it, deleted it, and started it again, about four or five times. Oh no! Only two months into the blog and I’m developing writers block?! Somewhere around the fifth try, I realized that this was not writers block, but in fact, something more serious. In the strongest terms possible, I urge people to exercise prudence before attempting to write in an upstairs, A/C-less apartment while it is 100 degrees outside. For a hairy monster like me, finishing that article redefined the phrase sweat equity. And while A/C is nice, there was nothing better than escaping the heat for cooler pastures, as in Duluth, and jumping into the vast and brisk waters of Lake Superior. Righteous was the word that came to mind.

Before heading north, however, my girlfriend and I decided that if you’re going to sit around and be sweaty, why not do it with 38,000 other people at a baseball game? Now, I’m a devotee of Fenway Park, and always will be. That being said, enjoying the new isn’t a bad thing, and it makes you appreciate the old at the same time. Target Field in Minneapolis is a superb venue. We sat less than ten rows from the top on the left field line and still had a spectacular view. There weren’t any blind angles, and we could see the pitcher’s mound and home plate very well. You don’t have to wait in line for any concessions and the skyline view is awesome. It’s worth going to a game there. Coincidentally, we saw a great game making me realize yet again that summer is for baseball.

 Twins left hander Francisco Liriano had one of those really gutsy performances that any huge fan of pitching like me appreciates, now matter which teams are playing. He did not have his best stuff, nor was he throwing many first pitch strikes. He walked four over six innings, two of which were the dreaded lead off walk. But he still had the guts to strike out Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera a slider on a full count with two runners on base. He accidentally beaned Travis Buck square in the head, which I did not see because I was getting a round of beers. I did suspect something happened when I heard 38,000 people collectively gasp at once. He had some luck too. Matt LaPorta absolutely smoked three balls off Liriano, but all were right at a Twins outfielder. Francisco was effectively wild, which you can be when you have stuff like he does, and walked off the mound after six innings having surrendered just one run on a sac fly.

Indians right hander Justin Masterson was simply masterful. I don’t know how hard I can stress that the Twins hitters had literally zero chance off him that night. He’s having a fantastic year and that showed last Tuesday. How good you say? Of 104 pitches thrown in the game, Masterson threw 102 fastballs and two sliders. Mixing four-seamers and two-seamers, he allowed just four hits over 7+ innings, none very hard. He got one out on a fly ball, while getting 15 groundouts and six strikeouts. He walked none. It was pretty impressive to watch.

Twins third baseman Danny Valencia was having one of those games you just want to forget about. He made a couple nice plays in the field, but he struck out swinging in his first two at-bats. In the seventh with one out, the Twins had two runners on base for the first time in the game. Masterson got Valencia to ground into a double play to end the inning. As I looked at who would be due up in the bottom of the ninth, I shuddered at the thought of Valencia being up with the game on the line. It was still 1-0 Indians. After a fly out, Joe Mauer did what great hitters often do and drew a walk. Twins All-Star Michael Cuddyer then smacked a double. After an intentional pass to Jim Thome, up came Danny.

In baseball, it always helps to have an edge. There’s not too many times where that edge happens to be of the following variety. It turns out that Indians closer Chris Perez and Danny Valencia have been friends for 10 years, two of which were as roommates when they were both on the baseball team at the University of Miami. Ahead in the count, Valencia sat on fastball and ripped a line drive that dived too quickly for left fielder Luis Valbuena to catch. Mauer scores, Cuddyer scores, Twins win – and Valencia saves himself from a likely stern chiding. It doesn’t get any better than that on hot, muggy, summer night. I’ll be returning to Target Field in a couple weeks to watch my beloved Red Sox. Next time, I won’t be a-root-root-rooting for the home team, but last Tuesday, I was glad to do so.

Trade Ubaldo? Ucrazy?

There’s not much trade deadline talk this year, and all you have to do is look at how close the standings are to figure out why. Since every division is close and so many teams have a shot at the post season, it is likely to be a down year for big deadline deals. Amongst the few rumors there are, though, is talk of the Colorado Rockies floating their ace right hander Ubaldo Jimenez. Unfortunately, this means that at least part of the Rockies organization has conceded this season. For a team that has been making post season by going on ridiculous August/September runs, this is tough to hear. But GMs are always supposed to be looking to make the team better.

I think they’re floating the idea just to see if anyone bites. The asking price has to be high because in reality, the Rockies would be pretty crazy to trade Ubaldo. He admits that he did not properly prepare for this season, leading to injury early, and ineffectiveness up until about a month ago. But he’s rebounded and his numbers from season’s past speak for themselves. He’s got a nasty sinker that tops out 98-99 MPH and a good slider to boot. He’s only 27 years old. Most importantly though, the Rockies have him signed through 2014 at less than what teams are paying for closers and decent position players. Under his current deal, the most he would make is $8 million in the 2014 season.

Adding fuel to the fire is the rumor that Jimenez has been upset since last offseason, when the Rockies inked Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez to huge contract extensions. I didn’t think the Rockies had the money even to get both deals done in one offseason, but needless to say, they certainly didn’t have the money to get all three done. Jimenez angrily dispelled those rumors last week. I think the Rockies are asking for so much that ultimately no other team is going to land him. I also think that Jimenez will likely get the extension and money he deserves after this season. So, Yankees fans should stop drooling because it ain’t gonna happen.

Tip O’ The Cap to Sean O’Hair

Yesterday, Sean O’Hair won the RBC Canadian Open in a playoff against Kris Blanks for his fourth career PGA tour victory. I just want to tip my cap to O’Hair for a resilient win. With nine top-10 finishes and a win at Quail Hollow, he finished 10^th in the FedEx Cup standings in 2009. He didn’t play quite as well last year and it led to disaster this year. In his first 11 events of 2011, O’Hair missed the cut six times. By early May, he had fired his caddie and his coach. His best finish in his next seven tournaments was tied for 16^th at the Crowne Plaza Invitational, missing the cut another four times including his previous two starts heading into last week. 10 missed cuts in 18 events? One top-ten finish? No, O’Hair was not thinking about these things showing that in golf, it’s always best to look forward, not back.